Marie est fâchée contre Paul.

Because French often expresses feelings with être + adjective.

• est = is
• fâchée = angry / upset

So Marie est fâchée literally means Marie is angry.

This is different from English, where we may think of angry as part of a larger expression, but in French it is simply an adjective used with être.

The extra -e shows agreement with Marie, who is feminine.

The base adjective is:

• fâché for a masculine singular subject
• fâchée for a feminine singular subject

So:

• Paul est fâché.
• Marie est fâchée.

If the subject were plural, the adjective would change again:

• Marie et Anne sont fâchées.
• Paul et Marc sont fâchés.

Here contre means with / at / against in the sense of the target of the anger.

So fâchée contre Paul means angry with Paul or mad at Paul.

It does not mean a physical opposition here, even though contre can also mean against in other contexts.

Because after fâché(e), French normally uses contre to mean angry with someone.

• être fâché contre quelqu’un = to be angry with someone

English learners sometimes expect avec because English uses with, but French uses contre in this pattern.

That said, you may sometimes hear fâché avec quelqu’un, especially in some varieties or contexts, but it often suggests being on bad terms, having fallen out, or no longer being friendly, rather than simply feeling angry in the moment. For a basic learner sentence, fâchée contre Paul is the safest standard choice for angry at Paul.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is roughly:

fa-shay

More precisely:

• fâ sounds like fa
• ch sounds like sh
• ée sounds like ay

So the whole sentence is approximately:

Marie eh fa-shay contr Paul

A few pronunciation notes:

• The t in est is normally not pronounced here.
• The r in contre is the French r, but learners do not need to perfect it immediately.
• Paul sounds roughly like Pol.

Both can mean angry, but there is often a nuance.

• fâché(e) can mean angry, upset, or cross
• en colère often sounds a bit stronger, more clearly angry

Examples:

• Marie est fâchée contre Paul. = Marie is upset/angry with Paul.
• Marie est en colère contre Paul. = Marie is angry with Paul.

In many everyday situations, both are possible. Fâchée can sometimes sound slightly less intense.

Because Paul is a proper name, and proper names usually do not take an article in French.

So you say:

• contre Paul
• avec Marie
• Jean parle à Sophie

You would not normally say contre le Paul.

Possibly, depending on context, but the sentence itself most directly means that Marie is angry at Paul.

French être fâché(e) contre quelqu’un focuses on the feeling of anger directed at someone.

If you want to make it clearer that they are on bad terms or have fallen out, French might use other expressions, depending on the situation.

So the safest interpretation is:

• Marie is angry with Paul
• Marie is upset with Paul

Because this is a very basic subject + verb + adjective + prepositional phrase structure:

• Marie = subject
• est = verb
• fâchée = adjective
• contre Paul = prepositional phrase

So French and English line up quite neatly here:

• Marie is angry with Paul.
• Marie est fâchée contre Paul.

Not all French sentences match English word order so closely, but this one does.

Yes.

For the subject:

• Elle est fâchée contre Paul. = She is angry with Paul.

For the object of contre, you normally use a stressed pronoun:

• Marie est fâchée contre lui. = Marie is angry with him.
• Marie est fâchée contre elle. = Marie is angry with her.

So after contre, you do not use direct object pronouns like le or la. You use lui, elle, eux, elles, etc.

It can range from a bit upset to quite angry, depending on tone and context.

That is why translations may vary:

• angry
• upset
• cross
• mad

So Marie est fâchée contre Paul does not automatically mean intense rage. It could simply mean Marie is annoyed or upset with him.